This first project is a collection of simple images of objects used in the process of drug and alcohol abuse. It consists of powder to represent cocaine, a drug packet, a broken pill, a vodka bottle, cigarette butts and a spoon above a candle to represent the 'cooking up' process of heroin, there is also an image of an arm with blood and raised veins to look like the effects of using heroin. The original idea I had in presenting my final work would be in the form of a large collage, however I decided against the idea as it would include too many different pictures and be over crowded, this would also distract the attention from individual photographs and perhaps loose the meaning behind the work. Therefore I decided to keep it simple as I think the photographs used were powerful enough to be displayed alone and also made the concept of the work clear.
To create a variation from the other dark, eerie, black and white images that I have produced, I edited the pictures in photoshop to have a slight lomo effect. In Photoshop, I started with raising the contrast and brightness of each image. I also changed the 'levels' to make the pictures stand out and to exaggerate shadows. I then experimented with Curves in each shot to give it the lomo effect, once this was complete I changed the Colour Balance and cropped them into a square shape. The vibrant colour represent an electric feeling that you get when taking the drugs. The colours also represented an old photograph from someones past, to recreate this 'old' style, I added dates under each photograph from the 1970's.
I designed and printed each image in the form of a polaroid picture as polaroid cameras were traditionally invented as a family camera, therefore the photos of drugs I took vastly contrasted this. I then pinned each photograph to a board to represent the traditional way of displaying polaroids at home, this presents another contrast in my work as these images are far too raw to be displayed in a typical family home.
To improve I would have printed the images on photographic paper to make the polaroids more realistic and give the photographs a shiny finish.
I also changed the drawing pins to black tacks, this looks neater and the grey, slate looking pins went well with the theme.
This second piece included a range of photographs of a grave yard and text from a book. The photographs were edited in Photoshop, I first changed them to black and white and brought down the brightness and raised the contrast and levels to that the shadows were more predominant. I then decreased the lightness and changed the Colour Balance so that blues were apparent in the shadows and yellow in the mid-tones. I then ripped each individual image in 3 sections and stuck them on a page from a book leaving gaps so that the text is visible.
The thought behind the piece was to represent how it becomes difficult to express words or feelings when concerning death, drug abuse (relating to the first piece) or overwhelmed with emotion. To explore this theme I presented the words barely visible in between rips of photographs, which represent the cracks in time in which the emotion isn't as overwhelming and allows you to express yourself. The words also represent the sense of escape, in the sense of escaping form yourself or the emotion. As sentences are vastly covered, the words visible do not make sense together, this also represents a choke of emotion in which it becomes hard to bring sentences together and know how to express yourself.
To improve, I think leaving the images separately would have looked better and more effective. It would have also made it easier to make out what each individual picture is of.
To improve both pieces as a whole, I would have created more mock-up final pieces to show me what it could look like. This could have saved me a lot of time as when I created different pieces I changed my mind against the design and ended up doing a completely new idea.
My work was hugely inspired by Giacomo Brunelli and Trent Parke. I took the dark, eerie nature of their work and applied it to my shots. I, like them, wanted to show the raw side of photography that is unconventional and shocking but makes a point. I wanted people to think about my work and for them to work out the meaning behind it as well as creating their own ideas.
